Mystery Vaseline Tin Challenge... Oh La La!

Vaseline mystery tin challenge

Last week I was kindly sent a whole host of different craft goodies and set a challenge of guessing the new Vaseline Limited Edition Lip Therapy. 

My clues were amazing Pink Champagne Truffles (which went in seconds?! One word - Amazing), a candle, a balloon, some bubbles in a plastic champagne glass and of course the blank Vaseline tin. Now I'm no Sherlock Holmes but my guess is that the Limited Edition tin is going to be Pink Champagne

glitter

But the challenge was also to decorate the tin and the chosen blogger actually wins a trip to Paris plus also has the chance to offer one of their blog readers the same - amazing, right?! Which I got quite excited about and actually ended up superglue-ing glitter to my fingers?! Whilst decorating the tin of course.

I also decided to be quite ambitious... which if you saw some of my Instagram pictures you will know just didn't work out. I started off by trying to make a miniature Eiffel tower out of wire which just didn't work. It looked more like a wire spider sadly.

Pink Champagne vaseline

I also thought about pressing pink glitter into the actual Vaseline but then decided that would be a bit silly as I do want to use it! It actually does smell of champagne - as you can see it have wine extracts in it. 

So then I finally decided to make an Eiffel Tower candle and started off with a huge candles and sculpted it down... actually quite hard work and it broke many times but I did it and I don't think it looks too bad if I say so myself. I also made a little bit of grass with cotton wool and made good use of the glitter which was very messy. What do you think? Would you buy my Parisian inspired Vaseline? hehe maybe not. 

Though I am actually going to keep this on my desk and use it with the candle still on top! 

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The new Limited Edition Vaseline Lip Therapy with be available to from Selfridges from 5th September at £3.49. The tin is pink and black... sadly no eiffle tower candle included?!

But if you want to find out more info and see the actual tin then you can visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vaseline

After all the talk of the new flavour what flavour would you like to see from Vaseline? I would actually love a Toffee Fudge flavour or even if they joined up with another brand and did a Willy Wonka Popping Candy one?! That would be amazing. 

Hope you like my tin! 

Au revoir, 

Fee xo.
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Beauty Flash Sales at Achica


Achica

When finding members-only flash sale websites I always wonder what the products will be like and if they are going to be THAT discounted, as I have been a bit disappointed with some websites which are of this format. 

However last week I signed up to ACHICA - a members only luxury home & lifestyle store (signing up takes seconds and is free I should point out) and I was really quite surprised at the brands and discounts they offer - and yes, there are beauty products!

The concept behind Achica homeware is quite simple - fresh sales start at 6:30am throughout the week which run for a few days (though products do sell out I have found!) at high discounted prices. As a member you ofcourse get to see these sales and also a timetable of what brands are coming up over the next four days which is quite helpful.  

Since joining there have been discounted summer fragrances, Crabtree & Evelyn  and Rituals products in the way of beauty, plus also some pretty cosmetics bags and nice storage solutions. To give you an idea of the discounts the Rituals Yogi Flow 200ml Foaming Shower Gel is £4.00 on Achica but the normal retail price is £7.00. But of course there are much larger discounts the bigger the product I have found - great deals to be had on interior accessories.
 

Achica buys

Here are a few non-beauty related products I like - especially the unique Parisian lantern! Some lovely products but really the website has so many different flash sales - glass ware, bed linen, furniture, stationary (Emma Bridgewater, anyone!), candles, toys, art prints, food & wine, sunglasses... basically everything! 

 As you can see I have purchased a product already a Hing Bone Bowl to be exact! Not beauty related in the least but I'm sure my dog will love it. Also I purchased a lovely white jewellery tree which I forgot to save the image of to show in this post. But I am sure I will show it at a later date. 

Overall this is a fantastic website to browse through with some great buys - I actually kept thinking how it would be ideal for wedding presents and Christmas gifts!

If you are interested you can sign up through this link and get a £10 voucher
off your first purchase (minimum spend of £20) and just to point out I will get a £10 voucher in return as well.

Fee xo.


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NOTD - W7 Lava Flow

w7 lava flow swatches

Back to normal nail posts again! 

 After the nail challenge I let my nails have a little break for a week but my inner nail polish addict decided to buy herself some new nail polishes *tut tut* and I now seem to have 8 new nail polishes in my ever expanding collection!

This W7 nail polish was actually my first purchase of my little splurge due to seeing it on The Sunday Girl's blog (read here) and loving it as an alternative to the pricey Nails Inc Sprinkles nail polishes. This is also my first ever W7 nail polish... I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with W7 as I really do see them as a copycat brand which I don't love but I do have to admit they have some good products for their price range.

I purchased W7 Lava Flow from Amazon for £2.95 which includes p&p (here). I don't often purchase beauty products from private sellers on Amazon but the delivery of this was so speedy. You can also find the two other shades from the same seller for the same price - Salt 'n' Pepper (here) and Mosaic *dupe for Nails Inc Pudding Lane* (here).

W7 Lava Flow swatches with matte top coat 

Application of the nail polish was really good and it did only need two coats which I was pleased about. Also as this is effectively glitter held in a creme nail polish I found it also applied quite nicely. As it is such as a different nail polish - kind of looks like you have done nail art on your nails when you look down at them oddly, I decided to try out a matte top coat over it to see what it would look like... didn't love it!

As for how well it lasted it wasn't amazing but I think most people that like nail polish do change their nails every 2-3 days which is when it started to chip at the tips. 

I'm really glad I decided to purchase this as it is such a different polish from anything I have in my collection and when your collection goes into 3 figures you want to seek out those unique nail polishes.... who am I kidding - I  just bought two new nude nail polishes!  

I thinking a little nail haul soon actually - Essie & Sally Hansen.. oh yes!

Fee xo.

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Nail Challenge Winner!


A quick post to announce the 15 Day Nail Challenge winner! 

Firstly I would just like to say a thank you to all the bloggers that participated in the challenge it really was great and something a bit different. I will be doing it again (with more advanced warning) in October I think. I thought about making it every other day however I did like that it was actually a challenge to do my nails every single day for 2 weeks. But of course it will be with more exciting and new themes for each day!

On to the prize winner... dum dum dummm!!!

It is Sarah from Try My Hand

She had soooo many votes and lots of people loved her galaxy nails - I actually think she needs to put up a tutorial! I will of course get your prizes sent off to you asap. The two other lovely bloggers (Glitter Tips and The Polishatorium) also did so well also with lots of votes and hopefully some new blog followers. 

Thanks again for all that joined in, commented, voted etc! 

You can view all of my nails in the challenge here.

Fee xo. 

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We've Got Our Obsessions - Maxi from The Lipstick Blog

The Lipstick Blog

Something a little different today - a new possible series! This new series was inspired by my lovely friend and fellow blogger Maxi (The Lipstick Blog) after many talks about her lipstick addiction. It is a known addiction for Maxi and we are currently trying to seek help for her hehe! Actually I do have to keep tabs on her blogsale habits! 

 So I decided to come up with a series all about beauty obsessions and start it off by asking Maxi some questions on her love of lipstick which will hopefully be quite interesting for you all as she is indeed an expert in lipstick now - pratically degree level!

First things first, how large is your lipstick  collection? I want exact numbers!
  At last count it was 151 but I have probably gained one or two since then.
 
Explain your love of lipstick and why the need for just so many!
 I wish I could explain it to you but I can’t even explain it to myself. It is a totally irrational love of prettiness. Why do I need so many? – I don’t. 

What is your most worn lipstick?
 The most worn lipstick in my collection is probably Elf – Natural Nymph. I use it to block out my lip colour to put other lipsticks on top. I rarely wear it on its own though, It is a bit too concealer nude.


Can you remember what your first ever lipstick was? If so what was it/how old were you?
  My first ever lipstick would have been a red. I have been doing dance shows since I was 2 and had to wear “stage makeup” which included red lipstick.

Little Maxi
Little Maxi (on the right, if you can't tell!) aged 4 at her first ballet show wearing lipstick - of course!

Any lipsticks that you wanted but were hard to get hold of?
 90% of my Mac lipsticks are either from blog sales or CCO’s so I have had to be patient and wait for a lot of those I have wanted. I adore my NYX lipsticks as well and they are fairly tricky to get hold of. 

Which lipsticks couldn’t you live without?
 I think I could rest peacefully in my bed at night knowing I had at least one mac nude… Maybe. 

 How do you store all of your lipsticks?
 My lipsticks are currently in clear acrylic drawers (from Homebase - see image below) which I love because they become a sort of display feature.

Homebase acrylic storage

How many lipsticks are currently in the handbag you are using?
 I am actually using a really small bag at the moment so I only have 4 in there. But trust me that is very unusual. (Update: Makeup Savvy know this number is currently 9!)

What lip products are you currently lusting after right now?  
The Sisley lipsticks look INCREDIBLE. I would love to get my hands on one of them. Ok maybe two of them. 

Which range of lipsticks would you recommend everyone try?
 Definitely the NYX round lipsticks. The majority of them are gorgeous and creamy and they come in so many different colours there is bound to be one for everyone. 

What is your most loved but cheapest lipstick?
 I love my MUA lipsticks. I always seem to have a bit of a distaster with my lipsticks on nights out and end up breaking them or losing them so at £1 the MUA range is perfect. 


MAC lipstick

Which lipstick formulas that you have been disappointed by?
 I find Barry M to be very hit and miss. In my experience they have either been too dry or so soft they melt in to mush. 

You are going on holiday abroad for a week, how many lipsticks would you take with you? 
A week? That’s 7 days, two lipsticks a day… 14? Realistically? A nude pink, a nude beige, a brown, a red, a hot pink and an orange maybe? 

Favourite nude lipstick – Mac crème d’nude or Estee Lauder Vanilla Truffle.

Favourite red lipstick – I am very disloyal to red lipsticks, my current favourite is Gosh Jumbo Lip gloss pencil in 03 Gypsy Red.


Thank you so much Maxi for answering the questions, make sure to have a read of her blog - here

If you feel like you have an obsession with any one beauty product with a large collection - mascara, skincare, foundation, nail polish etc and want to be featured, then please email me - makeupsavvy@live.co.uk with the subject 'Obsessions' and how large your collection is and some detail and I will get back to you. 

Fee xo. 

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A bit of a Shame...



Sadly I'm having to cancel all the votes for the nail challenge that was supposed to be counted up tomorrow. This is due to a few people cheating/trolling by voting using different names etc.

I'm not too impressed by this as it does ruin it for the people that did vote honestly and also for the nails nominated. 

However I have decided to still make it fair by now using a voting poll (below) that will be up until Friday then I will announce the nails. It is setup for only one vote per IP address so this will hopefully stop any cheating.

Here are the nails which you can vote for again - 






Thanks

Fee xo. 
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Bourjois Cheap Treats from Direct Cosmetics

Bourjois

Some more lovely products from Direct Cosmetics (read about Stila Lip Trio sets here)! Bourjois is one of my favourite high street cosmetics brand however they have gone rather pricey in the past two years and some of my favourite products from them have been now discontinued.

For example the Shimmering Shine Liquid Eyeshadows... now many people may not like liquid eyeshadow or they weren't sure that they were exactly. But these are actually amazing and I haven't a clue why Bourjois don't sell them anymore. I actually love them a lot more than the Bourjois little pot eyeshadows.

cats

If you have been a reader of my blog for some time you may have seen me mention the Shimmering Shine Eyeshadows (£1.99 each) before as the shade Brun Magnetique (far right) is my favourite liquid eyeshadow. It is such a pretty metallic brown shade which I use over MAC Bare Study Paint Pot more toward the crease. One thing I love about the range is that they feel weightless and reviving on the lids which is to do with the high water content I think. They just don't feel thick or sticky they just dry and then it's like you aren't wearing eyeshadow, definitely a different feeling. 

However Molecule D'Or is my new favourite as the golden shade is just amazing. It can either me dabbed on the lids with the applicator and left to dry quite opaque or you can blend it out with your finger or a brush for a daytime gold smokey eye - so pretty. The other shade Beige Metallique (middle) is more of a cool toned light brown that looks lovely in the crease blended out with Molecule D'or on the lid. 

There are quite a few other shades available on Direct Cosmetics I'm sure but I just love these three neutral shades because there really make the eyes stand out and give that Olsen twin smokey eye, which is so pretty. Also great for summer and holidays because they last so well and don't crease until well into the night.

Bourjois En toute Affinite

Now another product that interested me was the Bourjois En Toute Affinite nail polish (£1.49) which was a range of nude nail polish to match your skin tone. This shade Beige Nude #22 is a touch too dark/warm for my skin tone so I may get a shade lighter/pinker would be better with Beige Rose #25 but I love the idea of nail foundation. Of course this is just a nude nail polish and can we worn alone but if this matched your skin tone perfectly it would make a great base for all nail polish or for nail art such as leopard print nails with multi-colour spots (I need to try this) or black polkadots.

Also the application of this is flawless which hopefully you can tell by the finish. It literally just glides onto the nails even with the first coat. 

However I have also noticed two Bourjois French Manicure sets containing three nail polishes a white, nude and clear top coat for only £3.49! Just imagine if Bourjois on the high street was that cheap... would never happen, but thankfully we have the internet and good discount websites.

I'm definitely thinking I need to try some more nail polishes from the site especially the set as a good white nail polish is always handy and also some from the Bourjois 1 Seconde One Coat nail polish range (£1.49 each). 

But really if you like liqiud eyeshadows you will be impressed with the Shimmering Shine range!

Fee xo.  

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Vote for the Nail Challenge Winner!

Makeup Savvy Nail Challenge

As mentioned throughout the nail challenge I have a little prize (see below) for the nicest nails of the 15 Day Nail Challenge!

I thought it wouldn't be right me picking my favourite so I have selected my favourite three nails and now I need your help in voting for which you like the most (just one comment/vote per person please!) - just let me know A,B or C!

 Voting will only be for a few days and I will count up the votes and announce the bloggers who has got the most votes on Wednesday 22nd August.

Here are my favourite three nails from the nail challenge! 

Try My Hand

All of Sarah's entries have impressed me - all really creative and fun.. I mean she even did Cat in the Hat nails! But these were my favourite nails, which were for Day 4 - Galaxy Nails. I just love the shades used and how pretty they look. You can check out lots of other amazing nails from Sarah at Try My Hand.

The Polishatorium

I really loved the gradient nails that The Polishatorium did. The nude shade as the base looks like her natural nails and the blue gradient is just so smooth and the glitter just makes it all pretty and blends everything together. These nails really made me want to try it out which is what nail art is all about! You can see more nails at The Polishatorium.

Glitter Tips 

This was Alexis' entry for Day 13 - Film Inspired and I was just amazed at the detail, I mean just look at the faces and how they actually look like the characters of Tangled! I really don't know how she did it. I also love the little flowers and how all the colours are just so. You can see more wonderful nails by Alexis at Glitter Tips.

Here is the prize... plus I have now also included some lovely nail stickers as well! 


There can only be one winner so please do comment and tell me nails you prefer - A, B or C! 

Thanks

Fee xo. 

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15 Day Nail Challenge - Day 15 - Anything

Watercolour nails

Today is the very last day of the challenge and I must say how much I have enjoyed it. I has been lovely having to be more creative with my nails and thinking what I was going to do each day. I have also loved the sense of community as I spotted bloggers that joined in commenting on each others nails and being able to find new blogs - I know I discovered lots of great ones! 

So thank you for making this a really great challenge!

For the last day I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to try out watercolour nails! I have seen this done on a few different blogs and on YouTube now and it always looks really easy to do but the results look really great and professional!

Basically the technique consists on painting the nails (I used a nude base) and then splodging onto the nails a few different nail polishes. I went with a pink, a light blue and a lime green that turned out to look more mustard coloured. Then all you do is press lightly over each nail with a plastic sandwich bag to merge all the nail polishes! So easy. Of course you do one nail at a time and you do need to clean up around each nail. I used a cotton bud dipped in nail polish remover but an angled eyeliner brush with acetone works wonders! Overall I'm so glad I try this technique out and will definitely be doing it again with different shades. 

Here are all the other submissions today, I highly recommend taking a look and also follow the blogs! 

 Lacqueerisa - here
Flutter and Sparkle - here 
Diamond in Rouge - here
Try My Hand - here
Glitter Tips - here
Classic Style - here
Java Beauty Connoisseur - here
 Sara's Thirty-Something Ramblings - here
The Polishatorium - here
Earth to Petal - here 
The Nail Artiste - here 
Beauty and Baggage - here 
30 Plus Beauty Lover - here 
Enigmatic Rambles - here
Behind Green Eyes - here 
Aztec Mess - here 
Don't Eat Leather - here 
Clouds and Cuticle Oil - here 
Beauty By Ren - here
 
Now that the nail challenge has come to an end I will have another look at all the different nails that everyone did and select my three favourites, then on Friday I will share them here on my blog and ask everyone to pick their favourite from the three. 

The blogger with the most liked nails will win a lovely nail related prize (I have added more to it!) which I will show in full on Friday as well. 

Fee xo. 



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15 Day Nail Challenge - Day 14 - Dots


Royal Blue Dots

Today I really wasn't feeling dots. I actually did my nails twice (you can see the nails I did first, below) because I just wasn't sure what to do. But in the end I just went with simple polka dot nails. 

I normally do nude nails with black dots but I thought I'd try something  different as I wanted to use my new bargain nail polish which I found in Poundland - Revlon Royal. It is definitely a welcome addition to my nail polish collection as I don't have a blue this shade and I love the consistency of Revlon Top Speed nail polish and of course how fast they dry!

 
Revlon Royal Nail polish Color Club Blue Ming

Nothing wow today but I do like the colour combination with Revlon Royal as a base and Color Club Blue Ming for the dots. 

Here are my first nails that I decided not to go with... 

Dot nails

I'm not in love with this look but I thought  I would try sheer nails for once and something more delicate looking. The pattern I just made up as I went along and I just used a Sharpie fine liner pen. As for the nail polish it is my stargazer as you can see and I just applied two thin coats of it so that it was sheer - I do really rate Stargazer nail polishes and the best place to buy them in from eBay however some New Look stores do actually stock the brand.

 Here are the other pretty dotty nails for today...  

Try My Hand - here
 The Polishatorium - here
Glitter Tips - here
Le petit jardin de Liloo - here 
Cappuccino Lace - here
Truly Madly Beauty - here
Behind Green Eyes - here 
Hirosaki Nails - here
Lacqueerisa - here
Enigmatic Rambles - here
Flutter and Sparkle - here
Earth to Petal - here
 Java Beauty Connoisseur - here
30 Plus Beauty Lover - here 
Beauty and Baggage - here
Don't Eat Leather - here 
  
Tomorrow is the last day! The theme is 'Anything!' which means a free choice. It could be your favourite nail art/nail polish or something you have never tried before. I already know I'm going to try out a technique I have never tried before! Wish me luck :) 

Fee xo. 
 
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15 Day Nail Challenge - Day 13 - Film Inspired Nails

UP Pixar nails

My favourite nails to do so far! I had so many ideas for this theme - Little Mermaid, E.T (which someone has done in the links below!), Moulin Rouge even, with the little green fairy.

But I decided to go with Up (the Pixar animated movie) as I have seen these nails before and loved them especially the balloons.. also it is a lovely film. Another blogger actually went with Up nails too :)

I am pretty pleased with how they turned out - the balloons look really nice I think but the house really called for a finer nail art pen so that it didn't look as heavy! Also next time I would maybe make the blue a darker blue. But overall I really do like these and think I may even do the nails again but as balloon nails. 

Here are all the other creative film inspired nails today!

Glitter Tips - here
Try My Hand - here 
30+ Beauty Lover - here
Lacqueerisa - here
Beauty and Baggage - here
The Polishatorium - here
Flutter and Sparkle - here 
Aztec Mess - here 
Behind Green Eyes - here
Enigmatic Rambles - here
Diamond In Rouge - here 
Hirosaki Nails - here 
Cosmetics, Shopping and Intoxication - here
Don't Eat Leather - here 

Oh so close to the end of the challenge now! Tomorrows theme is.... Dots! 

Fee xo.

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The Tan Commandments

SiennaX

If you have ever self tanned, which I'm liking to guess most, if not all of you have, then you will know what is it like to wake up in horror at the sight of how your tan has developed! 

I'm talking 'sand pit' knees, oompa loompa face, white patches and the dreaded tell tale orange palms! But ofcourse all of those mishaps don't happen all at once thankfully. It is just when you haven't prepared your skin for the tan, or you haven't used the correct tanning products or you haven't applied it properly or with the right tools.


However shopping online can really fix a lot of those problems, by buying good quality tanning products, latex gloves/applicators and also the very handy tan remover wipes. You can find spray tan solution @ www.beautyexpress.co.uk - click here

Also here are my own 10 tan commandments! 

1. Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate.
2. Remember to add moisturizer to dry areas (knees,elbows, feet etc) before tanning.
3. If you have fair hair add vaseline around the hairline and on the eyebrows.
4. Do not apply any kind of tan after showering or hair removal.
5. If you have enlarged pores on the face or legs splash cold water and pat dry just before tanning.
6. Always apply tan from the feet upwards so not to rub off any tan.
  7. If you need to do your whole back and have no one to help you place a small amount of the tan onto a long piece of cling film and told both end to rub tan all over your back. Silly, yes! But it works.
8. To do the backs of the hands carefully wash the hands with soap and pat dry. Then place the back of your hands against another part of your body that you have tanned. This is place enough tan onto the back of your hands.
9. To prolong your tan moisturize each day.
10. Use latex gloves to protect the hands (even wash used hair dying gloves!)

Hope you found this helpful if you are self tanning this summer! 

Fee xo.

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